Dan Snapp: The days after draft always feel barren. There’s so little to do. You can scour the Internet for proof – and you can always find this proof somewhere – that your guys were steals and rivals’ guys were reaches. But in reality you have a spectrum of five months to never (Alas, Shawn Crable, you peaked in your leaping-over-linemen Michigan photo) for any evidence of what they’ll truly yield.

There’s extra emptiness this draft when it dawns that the biggest need – pass rush – still went woefully neglected.

Chris: The Pats’ spring haul resembles most things in life: we have little idea of how it’s all going to pan out. Below, your humble PD staff (hah!) shares what they like, don’t like, and still don’t quite understand.

1 – 22 to Denver for 24 and a fourth (119); later, 24 and 119 to Dallas for 27 and a third (90).

2 – 44 and a sixth (190) to Oakland for 42; 47 to Arizona for 58 and a third (89); 58 to Houston for 62 and a fifth (150).

3 – 89 to Carolina for a 2011 second.

7 – 229 and 231 to Washington for 208.

Now, our rankings, more or less, based on what was overheard in our respective living rooms during the exhaustive, 72-hour bonanza that was Draft Weekend 2010:

WOOHOO!

Chris: Though no single selection caused me to exult, I’m thinking about giving 2010 a top grade overall. Needs met, playmakers found, potential gathered. Yes, I would have liked a few different picks here and there (a running back late, a defensive end earlier), but this draft provided more potential playmakers than last year’s, which was solid.

GregDoyle: I’ll say Spikes. I have been all around the gamut on him. I thought he was one of the best linebackers in college football when I merely watched him play. But then, I admit, the whispers got to me. I started hearing about a history of ankle problems. Then the slow 40 times. I admit, they got me to severely downgrade him and not even seriously think of him until possibly the final day. But my immediate reaction upon them taking him? YES! That is a football player! Maybe it’s my Patriots bias, but I don’t think so. I was similarly down on Gronkowski and while I may have lightened up abit on him, I still have reservations I’ll explain below. Spikes? There is just no way a guy that productive, that passionate, that much of a playmaker and that smart won’t do well for a Bill Belichick coached team. He’ll likely become a 2-down plugger. That means he is the guy taking on the lead blockers most of the time and it’ll free up Mayo to take less of a beating and be more of a playmaker. The inside now with Mayo, Spikes, McKenzie and Guyton as a nickel backer (the perfect role for him) now looks stocked with young guys with potential.

Dan: Mesko – The perfect storm of need, talent, and right round converge. And then they all sold some game jerseys. Some think the Pats grab these special teamers too high – Ghost with a 4th in ’06, Ingram in the 6th last year, and now a fifth for the Zoltan – but one round too early is a negligible price to pay if that player eliminates a need at the position for the next four years.

Scott Benson:Brandon Spikes, definitely. They didn’t make that pick by some textbook measureable or abstract projection (see tight end Meathead Stivic, two picks earlier) but by pure football-playin’ track record. They didn’t make that pick based on the best player available theory but on raw, bald-faced need. If this guy doesn’t play more defensive snaps this fall than everyone but Jerod Mayo, I’ll eat my fucking hat. I also loved Aaron Hernandez because of the same things. I love that they didn’t pass on a tight end that can find space AND catch/run just because he didn’t meet some in-line blocking metric. Aren’t they already paying the offensive line a shitload of money to do that? Anyway, if I had my druthers, every single pick every single year would be just like these two.

COOL.

Chris: I liked the Gronkowski pick (They filled a need! Finally!), and I enjoyed the aggressive way they traded up to get him. I also gave the ol’ nod to Hernandez filling out the TE spot, as well as Mesko in the fifth and QB Robinson rounding out the seventh (called by PD’s own Greg Doyle in his mock draft, by the way). Strong investments, all.

Greg: That was my reaction to the Hernandez pick. Being a big SEC fan and with the success of Florida as a program, I saw him play a lot and he is very good. I thought he was one of the top 3 tight ends in the draft and to get him in the 4th round is excellent. He has great hands, can move after the catch and is pretty quick for his size. I think he’ll fit into this offense as a “move” tight end from day one.

Dan: Spikes – Just felt etched in stone this guy would be a Patriot. Production, toughness, leadership and a fortuitously bad 40 time to drop him within their grasp. Gronkowski – I admit it, the measurables wowed me. I was thinking Kyle Brady before Belichick said “Kyle Brady” when asked afterward for a comparable. Yeah, yeah, the back. I know. I’ll blithely choose to ignore that for the time being, and just keep repeating “Kyle Brady, Kyle Brady”. Hernandez – Belichick hedging his bets on Gronkowski by grabbing a guy rated almost as high (and in some instances higher). Hope it also signals a new commitment to the tight end in the passing game.

Scott: I flipped when they made this pick (it’s all there on Twitter – I’m not proud of it), but after a couple of days I’ll put Devin McCourty in this group. Nothing I read anywhere over these last several weeks contradicted that this was a solid, versatile player with promise who deserved to be picked in the precise range in which he was chosen. And nobody ever said the Patriots don’t need to get better in the secondary. If he comes along like Darius Butler, for example, then what the hell would be wrong with that? Besides the whole Jerry Hughes thing, I mean. I also liked that the Patriots picked a punter bigger than the late Reggie Roby. As a tribute, Zoltan Mesko should wear a wrist watch while kicking. And by the way – isn’t it funny that after all the bitching about Chris Hanson, they picked a punter that is a left footed, directional, rugby-style kicker who lives on hang-time? I think it’ll be funny when this eventually dawns on the people who are still crying for that Todd Sauerbrun blast-it bullshit.

OKAY.

Chris: The Cunningham pick satisfied another need, which I appreciated; it just felt like it took a long time to get there (see my above Gronkowski parenthetical). The trade to the Panthers for a second-rounder made a ton of sense, but I wonder if we’ll end up wishing we had another pass-rusher this season instead of a high pick in 2011? Regarding Larsen and Welch, I only kept track of the latter because, once again, Greg “Bull’s Eye” Doyle picked him in his mock (nice job, Greg!). Though I wished they’d gotten D-line help sooner, I thought Deaderick and Weston provided a couple of pleasant late-round surprises.

And just as an aside, “Gronkowski Parenthetical” would be an awesome alternative band name.

Greg: The Deaderick pick seemed very logical. Played in the same system and really was graded higher than a 7th rounder. He was a productive guy who isn’t much of a pass rusher but a stout 3-4 end run defender. He’ll fit in and to find that in the 7th round is great.

Dan: McCourty – This poor guy gets his parade rained on because he’s not an outside linebacker. And when you think about it, a pretty damn good response to Santonio Holmes and Brandon Marshall entering the division. I saw this stat this morning: “Leading tackler among NCAA cornerbacks.” So yeah, I’m on board. But would it really have killed them to draft Jerry Hughes? Cunningham – The pros: hard worker, great program, BB’s ties to Meyer for the inside scoop, and mostly, that he has the right capital letters following his name. But this is it? Even if he proves a capable rusher, it’s still a position of need. Which is more of a concern: Gronkowski’s back or Sergio Kindle’s knee?

How about this, Bill? Make the “Scheme vs. Production” Zen riddle your own little Darwinian experiment and draft both Hughes and Kindle. While you’re jotting down arm length and optimum frame notes alongside nuthatch sketches in your journal, maybe at least the pass rush will finally evolve.

Scott: I’m putting Jermaine Cunningham right here, as in “okay, getting someone who can raise hell on the edge is your biggest need, and is critical to your defensive prospects in the short and long-term, and if you don’t hit this right you’ll go a long way to another year(s) of maddeningly passive third-down defense, and you’re telling me that Jermaine is the tonic for this, so…..okaaaaaaay. We’ll see if you do any better than you did with Crable.” I’ll add to this group everybody picked after Mesko. I know, I know…. “Tom Brady was a sixth round pick.” Yeah, for every one of those there’s six hundred million Oscar Luas. I guess what I’m saying is who cares. If a once-in-a-lifetime player shows up after being picked in that range, I’m okay with finding out about it when it happens. I’m not spending any time on it beforehand.

WAIT: WHAT?

Chris: Their first pick, McCourty, fit this category on Thursday night. A solid overall player, sure, but some of the pass-rushers available at the time looked mighty enticing. Now, when it comes to Spikes, I have to admit I got confused. One could argue that his 5.04-second 40 unduly soured me, but it does bring up the question of his ability at the NFL level. I’m looking forward to him proving me wrong.

Greg: Gronkowski has everything you want in terms of size and athletic ability. But the injury stuff scares me. He’s got a bad back for crying out loud and a big part of his job is going to be to help block 320 lb. guys in the running game. I know it’s easy for us to say, well, they had to check out his health thoroughly. And yeah, they obviously did. But you know what, I remember sort of taking that approach with Terrence Wheatley a few years back, a guy with a friggin’ metal rod holding his wrist together. That SOUNDED like a concern to me, but I got swept up in the “well, if they used a 2nd rounder on him, he must be healthy….” Know what? He has had injury problems since he’s been here and undoubtedly that has slowed his improvement and now, even when healthy, he can’t get on the field. I just don’t want to see a repeat of that with Gronkowski.

Dan: Price – No idea about this guy, and given the Pats were his only workout, that may be true for the rest of the league. This is one of those “In Bill We Trust” picks, hoping Belichick had Chad O’Shea put the guy in witness protection, wheat farming in Idaho ’til the draft safely ran its course.

Scott: No real comer at right defensive end (that’s an ’11 thing, evidently), and Taylor Price is the only wideout picked. I do like that Price is going to play outside the numbers instead of inside them – not everyone can be a slot receiver – but he certainly wasn’t in the upper echelon of prospects there. This causes me to reflect back on a realization I had a week or two ago – even with all the picks they had, they were probably not going to scratch every itch. There were (are) quite a few, after all.

OH, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!

Chris: Despite a nice highlight reel vs. Tennessee, I watched Price play a couple of times this year and failed to come away impressed. Of course, I’m bitter that the Pats missed out on a PD favorite, Andre Roberts, whom we all chose in our mock. Also kept waiting for a big running back late (Joique Bell, Wayne State, or even LaGarrette Blount, Oregon/Boxing School).

Greg: I didn’t really have a problem with any pick in that regard. The Price pick is a pure talent thing. He has it. And he did play in a Neanderthal offense. It’ll likely take him some time to get up to speed on something like the Pats offense. If any pick gave me that reaction, I guess it’s the Larsen pick which proves to me that Dante is held in such high regard by Belichick, he’ll be allowed at least one pet rock in the draft each year (last year he got three: Ohrnberger, Vollmer and Bussey… guys he worked out personally and that he liked). I don’t have a problem with the pick, it just makes me laugh when it comes to O-linemen Dante is doing the personnel now and picking somewhat obscure guys he thinks he can work with.

Scott: Four words: Meat-head-Stiv-ICK. At least when Rob finally proves that his Charles Atlas physique won’t hold up any better to the NFL than it did to Division 1, he’ll be marginally entertaining as That Guy who sits in the stands with a replica helmet and no shirt on. WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF.

Stay tuned to PD this week for a rundown of Patriots rookie free agents.

With the 2010 NFL Draft just hours away, let’s take a final look at the list of college prospects that have had significant contact with the Patriots over the last several weeks.

For these purposes, we define ‘significant contact’ as either a prospect site visit to Foxborough, or a private workout with Pats coaches and scouts. Interviews at post-season all-star games, the Combine, or at college pro days are not tracked. We’ve only included contacts that could be confirmed by media report (links).

There are those that will tell you that any interest on the part of the Pats that is made public is simply a ruse, or a ‘smokescreen’, to mask their interest in another, unnamed player.

As we’ve asserted many times before, that’s just untrue. Last year, Patriots Daily tracked visits by Patrick Chung, Brandon Tate, Tyrone McKenzie and Rich Ohrnberger before they were selected by the Patriots. In 2008, pre-draft contacts with Jerod Mayo, Terrence Wheatley and Shawn Crable were also noted.

Okay, so maybe there are some mixed reviews there, but that’s not the point. When the Pats make their picks later this week, it’s likely that two or three of the selections – if not more – will come from this contact list.

Note – if you see any that we’ve missed, please speak up in the comments section, and include a link to the reported contact.

Even if the Pats don’t select any of the players from this list, the direction of their efforts may tell us something. For example, by our count, the Pats have made ‘significant contact’ with 66 draft prospects. 39 of them, or nearly 60%, are defensive players.

Of the defensive contacts, more than half were defensive linemen (18 contacts). Linebackers represented 28% of all defensive contacts. 20% of contacts were with cornerbacks. Safety was apparently the only defensive position not focused on (just 2 of 39 contacts).

Nearly half of the 27 offensive contacts were either running backs (22%) or receivers (26%). Oddly, only 4 of 27 offensive contacts were with tight ends, a position that is considered a top need for New England. Offensive line contacts were concentrated on late round or priority free agent prospects. The Pats also looked at 5 quarterback hopefuls, including Tim Tebow.

This would seem to indicate the Pats will focus on their front seven and their offensive skill positions in this draft.

The Jets-Patriots NFL matchup isn’t the only football game this weekend that has featured months of smack talk. The Tennessee and Florida game has had chatter swirling around it dating back to the Volunteers hiring former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin after last season. Allegations of recruiting violations back and forth kept things percolating over the spring. Kiffin has played the role of the college Rex Ryan, making bold predictions for his team’s chances against the Gators, which he’s tried to tone down this week by calling Florida the most talented college football team in history. But the emotions are running high and that could be bad news for Tennessee, a wounded former college football giant just trying to get back on its feet while coming off a loss to a mediocre UCLA team. Kiffin is probably right about Florida’s talent and not just blowing smoke. So, if he can keep this game interesting into the fourth quarter, it may just add one more thing on the long list of items Raiders owner Al Davis was wrong about.

There are mixed feelings amongst football observers whether Heisman winner Tebow has the skills necessary to be successful in the NFL. Tebow has traditional drop-back QB size at 6’3″ 232, and he hardly possesses a weak arm. On the field, Tebow is a leader and runs the Florida offense to perfection. But Tebow is anything but a conventional QB; he’s an unconventional QB in an unconventional offense, using his legs to scramble around the pocket or run down field. At times, Florida has basically used him as their short yardage and goal line running back. He has the strength to overpower, as witnessed by his 23 rushing touchdowns as a sophomore. It says here, despite his unconventional style and the offense he plays in, Tebow has the talent to be a success on the NFL level. He should be a first day pick, possibly a first round pick. Watch him today, as he is very exciting and you can see the NFL skills show up here and there despite the spread offense he runs.

Cunningham is one of those college defensive ends who may be able to shift to outside linebacker in the NFL. It seems the vast majority of those projects don’t make it; however, some make it huge. Trying to figure out which ones have the upside to make the shift is the hard part. Cunningham seems to have all the attributes necessary to succeed at the next level. He stands 6’3″, 252 lbs. with penetration ability and is a solid tackler. His speed is uncertain, but he’s a good athlete. He isn’t a good enough pass rusher to he can exclusively play that role in the NFL. He is either going to show the ability to play linebacker and be stout against the run or he isn’t going to make it. His play today against a pro-style offense at Tennessee may provide some clues.

A 1st team All American middle linebacker, he may be the top linebacker taken in next April’s NFL draft. He seems to have all the attributes one would want, size, strength, mobility, solid tackling ability, leadership, and good production. All this points to a sure fire NFL first round pick. With Jerod Mayo having the same sort of versatility, it’s possible the Patriots would take him if they had the shot. But he likely won’t last that long.

Crompton is an enigma. He seems to have all the attributes of an excellent QB. Strong arm, good size, mobility, and athletic ability are all there, but for whatever reason it just hasn’t come together for him. It was thought playing in Kiffin’s NFL-style offense would do wonders for him, but after a strong first game against a weak opponent, he took a step back in last week’s loss to UCLA. He is now in danger of being benched and if any player ever needed to save their career with a good performance against a top-notch opponent, it’s Crompton this week. Last week he returned to being turnover prone by throwing three picks and fumbling once. He simply has to stop doing that and also needs to show touch and accuracy more consistently. His completion rate is only 50.6 percent for his career. That simply won’t cut it on any level. The talent is there and he deserves a little longer to get in tune with the NFL style offense, but his chances are running out.

Hardesty is a solid back who’ll play in the NFL, but will split time this year with Bryce Brown, the number one freshman running back in the country. Hardesty is a good sized running back at 215 lbs. He runs hard with good power, but lacks breakaway speed. He is a tough guy who’ll also show he can participate in the passing game, which so far has been a little limited in his time at Tennessee. More than likely a middle round choice at best.

Williams is a massive 327 lb. nose tackle who seemingly would be a perfect fit with a team like the Patriots. He is strong, a space eater and plays well against the run. Hasn’t shown much pass rush ability, but holds his own at the point of attack and is a decent athlete. Has some potential and it looks like he hasn’t reached his peak yet.

Texas has probably thought about this game for a year. A one point loss at Texas Tech last year (on the last play of the game) was the Longhorns only loss, and it could be argued they lost a National Championship because of their cross-state rival and long-time weak sister. It says here that, while still explosive on offense, Texas Tech isn’t quite as talented as last year and will suffer at the hands of a motivated and ready for revenge Texas team.

Another potential outside linebacker convert who came to the Red Raiders last year after a year as a JUCO. Regressed somewhat and only made 8 tackles, but it looks like he has earned a greatly increased role this year. He has always been able to rush the passer and currently leads Texas Tech with 2 sacks through the early going. Has good speed and decent size. Can play special teams. Right now a project, but has NFL size and some good athletic ability. Someone to watch.

A good college corner with decent size and lots of experience. Wall is one of the leaders of the Red Raider defense and has been a very solid and productive player for them. Decent speed and some ability as a kick returner as well. He’s off to a good start; it’ll be interesting to see how he does at against a top-notch QB this week.

The Longhorns leader is a strong armed field general who rarely gets rattled, is very accurate and is unquestionably one of the coolest customers and mistake-free quarterbacks in college football. He just doesn’t make many dumb throws and his accuracy makes things very difficult on defenses trying to stop Texas. Completed an amazing 76.7 percent of his passes last season. He does need to bulk up a bit as he isn’t the biggest quarterback around. Only 210 lbs, he needs more bulk to avoid injury in the NFL. Is elusive and can throw on the move and take off running with surprising speed as well. He should be a very high pick.

Off to a great start this year, this slot receiver has great moves, runs crisp routes and is elusive after the catch. He has excellent hands as well and produces in the red zone by finding openings in tight areas. A tough kid, he has good size for an inside receiver. Potential first round pick who’d be great with the Patriots, a team who values his type of skills.

A big, strong linebacker who can cover tight ends, run with most backs, rush the passer and take on guards at the line of scrimmage. He is 255 lbs., but runs well. Can also get down in a stance and beat tackles to get to the quarterback. Had 10 sacks last year. A playmaker who plays hard. Likely another very high Longhorn draft choice.